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Posted: Dec 20, 2013

DARPA Robotics Challenge trials live broadcast (w/video)

(Nanowerk News) The time has come for the robots competing on the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) to make their first public appearance. The trials for the final 2014 event will take place at December 20-21, 2013 and you can watch them live on YouTube:

The DRC is a competition of robot systems and software teams vying to develop robots capable of assisting humans in responding to natural and man-made disasters. It was designed to be extremely difficult. Participating teams, representing some of the most advanced robotics research and development organizations in the world, are collaborating and innovating on a very short timeline to develop the hardware, software, sensors, and human-machine control interfaces that will enable their robots to complete a series of challenge tasks selected by DARPA for their relevance to disaster response. Three sequential DRC events place equal emphasis on hardware and software:

the Virtual Robotics Challenge occurred in June 2013 and tested software teamsí ability to effectively guide a simulated robot through three sample tasks in a virtual environment;

the DRC Trials occur December 20-21, 2013 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, where teams will attempt to guide their robots through eight individual, physical tasks that test mobility, manipulation, dexterity, perception, and operator control mechanisms;

the DRC Finals will occur at the end of 2014 and will require robots to attempt a circuit of consecutive physical tasks, with degraded communications between the robots and their operators; the winning team will receive a $2 million prize.

Technologies resulting from the DRC will transform the field of robotics and catapult forward development of robots featuring task-level autonomy that can operate in the hazardous, degraded conditions common in disaster zones.

Source: >DARPA

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